By MICHAEL SMITH Movie Critic on May 18, 2009, at 6:07 PM Updated on 5/18 at 6:07 PM
I SEE MOVIES FOR FREE
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No film has ever had an opening weekend of $50 million-plus and then was unable to double during the rest of its run in theaters what it made in its first three days — until now.
It's official: "Watchmen" is a bomb, a comic-book movie drenched in historic flop-sweat.
What, you thought it was a hit? Sure, you and everyone else who follows those opening-weekend box-office figures seem to recall a $55 million opening weekend. You thought "Watchmen" was a smash.
That $55 million figure is ultimately meaningful only when confronted with reality: The movie about masked heroes that most people had never heard of reportedly cost more than $125 million to produce. A remarkable marketing blitz cost many millions more, reportedly up to $50 million. Then consider that Warner Bros. gets back a little more than half of ticket sales.
One of the most-anticipated films of 2009, "Watchmen" is stuck at $107 million, and it won't make another $3 million to avoid the dubious distinction of failing to double down on its opening weekend.
Just one year after what could be thought of as the summer of the comic-book movie – "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man" were No. 1 and No. 2 at the box office in 2008 and two of the best films last year artistically – 2009 is confirmed as a bust.
"Watchmen" is a bomb, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is a turkey, and there are no more comic-book superheroes coming to the cinema this summer.
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